Graves plans to have Bastet cremated in Neenah and her ashes shipped to San Diego.

"I'd prefer that they were back here," he said. "This is where she grew up."

Bastet was found in a mound of debris that was left from the wrecked cars. Graves thinks she died the day of the crash and went unnoticed until Wednesday.

"I don't know if it's been warmer there, but maybe more of the snow melted," Graves said. "When they went to put more of the auto scraps there, that's when they saw her."

Kevin Graves and his cat Bastet were on a cross-country trip when his SUV crashed in a pileup of cars on Interstate 41 near Neenah.(Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Graves)

Graves and Bastet, a 2½-year-old female gray tabby, were driving through Wisconsin on a cross-country adventure when they were involved in the pileup on I-41 south of Neenah. One person died, and 71 were injured.

Bastet escaped from Graves' SUV through a smashed back window. She was spotted several times by first responders and a tow operator, but they eventually lost track of her.

The Fox Cities community rallied to search for Bastet in the days and weeks after the crash.

Three animal rescue organizations — Saving Paws, Almost Home and Valley Cats — helped Graves look for Bastet. A cat-lover from Greenville gathered a group of volunteers to comb the area near the crash site. Live traps were set. A nearby farm was searched. Posters were distributed to businesses along I-41.

"The entire community has been really, really fantastic," Graves said. "I want to them to see the full extent of my gratitude because they have done so much in the past couple of weeks for me, for her and for everyone else in my family."

Though Bastet didn't survive, Graves said the efforts to find her were beneficial in that other stray tabbies were found and taken to shelters to see if they were microchipped.

"At the end of the day, they weren't my cat, but now these other cats are being sheltered and homed," he said. "That's really great to see."